5 Tibetans Arrested Over Suicides

BEIJING — Security officials in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu have arrested five Tibetans and accused them of inciting a series of self-immolations late last year by convincing participants that they would become heroes in death, state news media reported. Four of those detained were Buddhist monks, who the police said were guided by a Tibetan exile organization.

The arrests, announced Wednesday by Xinhua, the state news agency, are part of an increasingly desperate government campaign to stop the suicidal protests through intimidation, jail time and rewards for those who cooperate with the police.

Human rights groups have criticized the crackdown as counterproductive, saying it will only fuel the desperation that has convinced at least 107 people to set themselves on fire since 2009. In February alone there have been seven self-immolations in Tibetan regions of China, including an episode in which two teenagers killed themselves together last week in Sichuan Province.

Recently the authorities have detained 70 people accused of helping organize, encourage or publicize self-immolations. Chinese courts have so far shown little leniency toward the accused, sentencing more than a dozen ethnic Tibetans to long prison terms, and in one case in January, a suspended death sentence.

Those jailed include a 20-year-old artist who received two years in a labor camp after the police found images of self-immolators on his cellphone during a routine check, Radio Free Asia reported last week.